Automate importing .csv file into numbers

I have a numbers spreadsheet that I regularly import data from a website that is in .csv format.

Currently I open the .csv file and copy the data and manually paste it into my .numbers spreadsheet overwriting the old, stale data.

This is tedious (done weekly or more frequent for 6 tables).

I don't see much support for numbers in Automator (The logical place to automate this).

Is there a way to automate this procedure. I really like Numbers but there seem to be some gaping holes in its functionality.

TIA



Posted on Mar 29, 2025 8:15 AM

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Mar 29, 2025 10:23 AM in response to jzcxr

A script in AppleScript can do something like this.


But it would be highly dependent on the structure of your document and would only be worth writing if the steps you are now following are not just tedious, but also are very time-consuming.


Six or so copy-pastes every few days may be annoying. But they probably don't take that much time, right?


If they are taking a lot of time then perhaps you could post screenshots with details.


SG






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Mar 29, 2025 6:33 PM in response to SGIII

I'm looking into an AppleScript solution for now.

I expect it to be very dependent on my document (10-sheets with about 5-6 tables on each sheet).


It takes about 3-4 minutes to update all tables once the data is downloaded so not bad but part of me just wants to learn AppleScript/Automator for this so I can extend my knowledge base.


I wish Apple would spend a little more time updating Numbers to be more powerful. I really like its basic take on a spreadsheet (multiple tables per sheet) I dislike MS & Google so this it my only real option (that I know of).

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Mar 31, 2025 10:29 AM in response to jzcxr

I'll go out on a limb here and say that AppleScript can absolutely do that.


HOWEVER, there are a million and one gotchas, and not enough information to actually make it happen


Importing a CSV? - Simple

Transposing that data across 60 tables, with no idea what the data looks like, how many rows/columns, how it's transposed, what checks and balances exist, what error conditions to check for, what the result should look like? - almost impossible.


If you want to dive into details, I'm happy to chime in, but there really isn't much to go on at the moment.

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Automate importing .csv file into numbers

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